Acoustic Radiation Force (ARF) shear wave elasticity imaging methods typically use a transverse propagation velocity of mechanical shear waves in materials to estimate mechanical properties of a sample, such as material elasticity constants. These techniques may be adapted into imaging systems to compute the local shear wave propagation velocity as a function of both axial and lateral position. The velocity may be calculated by estimating the differences in arrival times of the shear waves, either at different recording locations or from different excitation locations.
The velocity of the shear wave may, therefore, be estimated over a predefined lateral kernel or distance. If the kernel is relatively small, the arrival time difference will also be small, and therefore, small errors in the arrival time may result in large errors in the estimate. Larger kernels are more resistant to small arrival time errors, but may result in a loss of resolution or lateral blurring of the image.